Commercial Apprentice Review

I work as a commercial/business apprentice at L3 TRL Technology. As a company (L3 TRL Technology) we operate in the fields of Design, supply, training and support of Counter-RCIED, Electronic Warfare, SatCom Interception, High-Grade Network Encryption and Battle-Space Cyber solutions. I help and am responsible for export licences of military and dual use goods. We must ensure we are compliant with UK, EU and US export legislation. We do this by obtaining necessary approval from Government agencies to allow promotion, demonstration and supply of controlled goods and technology. We are also responsible for government and commercial contracts and terms of purchase. This side of the commercial department is very important because we are responsible for negotiating contracts with customers are adhere to laws surrounding the UK and the countries of which we are dealing with. On a day to day basis I assist the department wherever I am needed whilst being taught new processes. I am being shown the process behind raising non-disclosure and loan agreements between L3 TRL and our customers, I am also involved in the acceptance of bids for new opportunities that arise frequently throughout the business.

I have really pushed my self to learn new skills and likewise really strived to develop existing skills. I have really worked on my team building skills and learned that communication is fundamental in a working environment. I consider myself an IT enthusiast however there are many process's and tips and tricks I wasn't aware of so being able to adopt new IT skills into my work has helped me save time but also help me implement new design ideas into my work.

I really enjoy my programme and the business administrator course is really interesting because you learned about every business fundamental and whilst studying and learning about business aspects you see them in a real world business environment and that is interesting. I have learned about markets and market structures that my organisation is placed in a and legislation and policies surrounding acts at work. The team I work in are a very tight knit team but are very friendly and have given me so many opportunities that I will never forget. I have met incredible people that work within the business and seen and witnessed engineering milestones in our sector of work. the company are really great to work for and it does has an ethos of a small company which is really nice.

I feel really valued in my job role considering the short amount of time I have been working. I am considered a key member and I am never felt left out by anything. My manager is very supportive and extremely helpful if I am ever in doubt. I have weekly catch up meetings with her and I know I can openly talk to her about anything. She is very keen for me to progress my career and would like me to be exposed to the rest of the company via secondments. As an apprentice people around the company acknowledge this and help me wherever possible by inviting me to courses and talks which I otherwise may not be aware of.

The support and structure within my company is amazing, I have a clear six month objective set out with myself and my manager but also the res of the department, this is helpful because each of them have separate jobs and tasks they would either like me to lead on or help them with. This is really interesting as I get to learn new things everyday and get to put them into practice. from an external point of view I have a skills coach as part of my apprenticeship programme, he visits me every 4/6 weeks and is there to assist me with any course I maybe stuck on. As part of my course I am required to attend external training in a classroom with other apprentices on the same course. this is really nice because I get to meet people who are doing the same course content but in completely different organisations, this means that everyone on the course has different daily tasks and job roles.

My skills coach visits me in my workplace and is there to assist me right the way through my course. I know I can rely on him to pick up the phone or respond to an email if I need help with anything. As an apprentice I have access to a website specifically for QA apprentices, this is a really goo way to meet people on forums and have general or specific discussions. On the website we are required to submit all our work to be graded by our skills coach, this provides an easy and stress free experience while uploading my work.

I receive a huge amount of support from my manager and also my department, they all wish to help me and want me to succeed and proceed further in my career. From my employers perspective we have a apprentice group within the company and we have weekly talks from all departments of the company explaining what they do and give demonstrations. for example engineers bring products me make and show us how they work and how to operate the item. As part of this apprentice group we have social representatives who organise social events outside of work which include, go carting, mini golf, going to sporting events and just general catch ups like gong to the cinema.

I consider myself very lucky when it comes to salaries because for an apprentice I know I get more than a lot of other companies because I spend a great deal of time searching for the right course. I am happy with the salary I am on and know that it can cover the cost of living, transport and have enough to spend on personal things. I have been lucky enough to have had a pay rise even though I have been with the company a few months this is due to the company expanding and being successful and wanting to reward employees.

In the short time I have worked at TRL I have been faced with many opportunities many of which I have taken full advantage of. In my office for example we have regular invites to watch local sports teams including Glouster Rugby. In terms of company events we hold several exhibitions around the country and around the world, I will have the opportunity to go to one and represent the company. As part of my job role my department are keen to send me on external training courses to help further my understanding. As a company we do a huge amount for local charities and do many fund raising events in and out of work to raise money for causes close to us. every year me vote for a new charity of choice.

Yes

I really enjoy the excitement of the industry I work in and feel proud that the products that I help to export and look at contracts for are saving peoples live and making the world safer.

I would say just be yourself (I know its cliché) but it really is the best advice, its okay to be nervous and not have a wealth of knowledge about the job you are applying for but that's the point, so you can develop your learning and build a career path.